FTP and Windows 7, again. Cant open in Windows Explorer

I cannot get my FTP site to open in Windows Explorer on my desktop running Windows 7 Pro. The site is located at the University, not on my local net. I can open the FTP site in IE9 and look at the files etc. I can also open it to Windows Explorer and copy/delete/paste files from my laptop running Windows 2010, IE9 and plugged into the same router as my desktop.
1) I have tried to copy the registry values for ftp from the (working) laptop to the (nonworking) desktop, they copied okay but did not change performance as suggested in one forum.
2) I have tried to use the Map Network Drive approach as suggested in other forums, but get stopped when I enter the ftp site and get a "The folder you chose does not seem to be valid, choose another.." error in the Add Network Location Wizard.
3) I have disabled the firewall in my desktop (MS Security Essentials)...no luck
4) I have reset, and re-adjusted the IE options so that it either allows or does not allow Passive FTP. Of course I have checked the "Allow FTP in Windows Explorer" box as well
5) I have attempted many fixes proposed by various forums without luck
6) I have sacrificed small animals to the computer gods and chanted network mantras until passing out (well, maybe not that desperate, but getting there)
Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance

Thanks for the reply Josh,
I could post screen shots, but they are just message boxes with what I have quoted earlier. I dont have to have the Windows Explorer, I would rather synchronize with Visual Studio 2010 or some other package.
I will have to check to make sure my registry fixes are pointing to valid locations; they should be, since I have not done anything weird with installations.

Here are the errors, first when trying to open ftp from IE9 to Windows Explorer

The second when running through the wizard just after enter the valid ftp location

thanks

This FTP problem is fairly common but apparently can be solved with the solution below.
There may be other working solutions on this page, Source 5th post down: This FTP site cannot be viewed in Windows Explorer. - Microsoft Community

1) Open Start menu and type regedit and press enter
2) Go to destination HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ftp
3)Then you shold check if all of these strings are there (the Name row):

"AppUserModelID"
"EditFlags"
"FriendlyTypeName"
"ShellFolder"
"Source Filter"
"URL Protocol"


4) if some of them are missing then rightclick on the background and select New > String Value and type in the missing string's name (without the " " quotes), then doubleclick on the new string and enter the right value, you can find it from Tim Bimmler's post (and again without the " " quotes).


if all the strings are there you should check if all the values (the Data row) are as in Tim Bimmler's post. If the String's value is not correct, doubleclick on it and enter the correct value (without the " " quotes).




I only checked the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ftp folder and it solved the problem. If this doesn't solve your problem then follow Tim Bimmler post and my previous steps.

Thanks for your response Chev65,
However I have already tried the many and varied remedies shown in that series of posts (that's what I meant when I said I did the registry adjustments) and they did not work.
I will continue to compare side by side with my laptop to see what other differences there may be.
Thanks for the suggestion.

profray said:

Thanks for your response Chev65,
However I have already tried the many and varied remedies shown in that series of posts (that's what I meant when I said I did the registry adjustments) and they did not work.
I will continue to compare side by side with my laptop to see what other differences there may be.
Thanks for the suggestion.

If you read further into the link "next page" I posted you will see there are some settings in IE that can also fix this problem. You can even upload the reg file directly, as you can see this has already fixed the same problem for many people.

These are about the only fixes available for this problem so I would be determined to make one of them work. :)

In the meantime, have you tried a dedicated FTP software like FlashFXP or SmartFTP?

Sometimes, an FTP site will block out your IP address if there are too many failed attempts to connect to it, I've had this happen using Explorer or IE. I get similar problems connecting to my storage site, it blocks me out sometimes, I've had to call the woman who operates it and she resets it for me.

I'm having a similar problem now, I'll keep my eye on this thread to see if it gets resolved, and how.

profray said:

Thanks for your response Chev65,
However I have already tried the many and varied remedies shown in that series of posts (that's what I meant when I said I did the registry adjustments) and they did not work.
I will continue to compare side by side with my laptop to see what other differences there may be.
Thanks for the suggestion.

This is what the registry error displays: -
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ftp]
"URL Protocol"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ftp\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe,0"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ftp\shell]
@="open"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ftp\shell\open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ftp\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe\" -- \"%1\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ftp\shell\open\ddeexec]
@=""

Edit this in notepad to this string: -
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ftp]
@="URL:File Transfer Protocol"=""
"AppUserModelID"="Microsoft.InternetExplorer.Default"
"EditFlags"=dword:00000002
"FriendlyTypeName"="@C:\\Windows\\system32\\ieframe.dll,-905"
"ShellFolder"="{63da6ec0-2e98-11cf-8d82-444553540000}"
"Source Filter"="{E436EBB6-524F-11CE-9F53-0020AF0BA770}"
"URL Protocol"=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ftp\DefaultIcon]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,75,00,72,00,\
6c,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,30,00,00,00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ftp\shell]
@="open"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ftp\shell\open]